This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Connector assemblies are used in a wide variety of applications, and particularly in connection with automotive engines to secure different types of hoses to each other or to other ducts. Often such connectors must be resistant to relatively high temperatures and also must be able to be installed quickly and easily, since in many instances such connectors must be installed by individuals operating on an assembly line.
In some applications it would also be highly desirable to provide a connector which, once its components parts are secured together, is not able to be disassembled. This is especially so if the connector is associated with use on motor vehicle emissions equipment. In such instances there is a strong desire by both manufacturers and governmental bodies that connectors used to help form an emissions circuit for a motor vehicle engine are not readily disconnected or capable of being disassembled by the vehicle owner.
There is also a need for a connector assembly which is able to be easily, permanently secured to another plastic duct component, for example to a polypropylene duct used in a vehicle emission system. There is a further need for such a connector assembly that permits one of its subcomponents to be permanently secured to the plastic duct component without compromising its ability to make a tamper-resistant connection between two or more of its subcomponents, and without significantly complicating the design of the overall connector assembly. There is a further need for such a tamper-resistant connector assembly which can be constructed in a highly cost effective manner with a relatively small number of independent component parts, and which can be assembled quickly without any special tools by an assembly technician and, when once assembled, cannot be disassembled. Still further, there is a need for having a high temperature resistance material (e.g., Polyamide) on the heated port side of a connector assembly, and the need to have this welded to a different material duct (e.g., Polypropylene), which are not compatible for plastic welding, and which would otherwise require adaptor pieces in order to be implement the connector assembly.